Northern California CCDS

Building the Progressive Majority and a Socialist Future

by Cathy Hodge McCoid

The 6th national CCDS convention, titled “Building the Progressive Majority and a Socialist Future,” met in San Francisco July 24–26.  It was preceded by a symposium (“Capitalism in Crisis: Socialism for the 21st Century”) on Thursday, July 23, sponsored by the Committees of Correspondence Education Fund. 

Angela Davis was the moderator for the symposium’s evening program, with international speakers giving insight into the struggles to build progressive coalitions in their own countries and internationally.  Participants included Chris Matlhako, from the South Africa Communist Party; Marcos Garcia, Second Secretary of Labor Affairs in Venezuela; Helmut Scholz, head of international relations for Die Linke (The Left Party) of Germany; and Jackeline Rivera from El Salvador, representing the FMLN.

Honduras: Democracy in Danger

by Miles Stryker

Early Sunday morning, June 28, two hundred soldiers attacked the residence of the Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya. After his personal bodyguards waged a brief gun battle, he was arrested. He was then spirited away by plane to nearby Costa Rica. Upon landing, he gave a press conference proclaiming that a military coup by “right-wing oligarchs” had taken place, and he called on the people of Honduras to support his democratic election (in 2005) by mobilizing in the streets to prepare the way for his return to his country and office. As of late July, he has been blocked from re-entry. Negotiations between Zelaya and the leaders of the coup are currently taking place.

The Budget's In, Our Needs Are Out

  

 by Bill Balderston

On July 28, Governor Arnold Schwarz-enegger signed the “final” version of a budget which appears to resolve the $26.3 billion deficit faced by the state through a series of last-minute cuts and a number of accounting maneuvers as well as an end to the 40-year moratorium on off-shore oil drilling.

The cuts are centered in child welfare and healthcare, services for the elderly, AIDS treatment, and state parks.

The governor cut over $9 billion for kindergarten through 12th grade public education, on top of $11.6 billion in previous reductions.

It's the System, Stupid

by Alan Weinerman
The most critical issue raised by the current world capitalist meltdown has been almost totally ignored by the liberal/left media. Is the systemic crisis simply due to Republican greed and recklessness, or are we entering the final breakdown of the system of private ownership of the means of production and finance? Marx long ago predicted a terminal crisis would be inevitable due to the basic contradictions of capitalism. The crisis has of course been exacerbated by the Republicans, who represent the most divorced-from-reality sector of the “ruling class.” But their policies have often been abetted by Banker Democrats like Summers and Geithner, who are hard at work bending Obama’s ear.

Vukani Mawethu Travels to Southern Africa

by Alex Bagwell

Vukani Mawethu Choir had its origin and purpose in the process of the political emancipation gained by South Africa. The choir developed as anti-apartheid fervor became the alternative avenue for many peoples the world over (not least in the Bay Area) who were fighting for jobs, housing, food, education and other human needs. In other words, this single issue encompassed all the issues around which they were already in struggle.

In 1997, the choir made its first trip to South Africa. The African–African American historical and